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Permalink Reply by Colin Hunt on April 18, 2011 at 17:06

Changed to Abbey(now SantanderSantander) 10 years ago, when they launched free business banking.  Not paid a penny in charges in that 10 years, always need to make sure your current account is topped up tho as its a hefty rap on the knuckles(£35.00 I think) for every transaction if there are insufficient funds.

A few problems in that 10 years, but I reckon you would with anyone in that time. 

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Dean on December 20, 2011 at 20:59

 I won't go into the whole long winded story but suffice to say that a couple of years ago, immediately after the death of her husband, a member of my immediate family experienced the full gamut of incompetence that is Nat West, and the insensitive, disjointed embarrassment that is their excuse for a customer services team.

However, on a happier note....Like Phil, my first bank was good old Girobank, and, also like Phil, my best experience of banking has been in Farnham (must be something about the place). In my case, it is HSBC Farnham. I opened the business account there several years ago. I had a very friendly and encouraging meeting with the advisor that is still available for me to call if I ever need to. They call once in a blue moon to see if everything is still to my liking but they are never intrusive. The internet banking facility is extremely user friendly and transactions seem to be very quick. The automatic linking with the business credit card makes life very simple.

Best of all, because we are so small, we don't pay a penny in bank charges. From my own experience, I couldn't recommend them more highly.  

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by dom levy on December 20, 2011 at 22:05

Barclays for me . offer me a brilliant service.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Big Dig Groundworks on May 12, 2012 at 8:30

I am thinking of switching banks but dont know who to go to.

I currently use Santander but am sick of waiting 5 days for chq's to clear, can anyone recommend a better service or whether it is better to just stay with free banking and put up with the timescale

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Brian www.mibservices.co.uk on May 12, 2012 at 12:42

From reading through the posts i dont think there is a winner. Personally for me its all about the relationship you forge with your business banking manager. The commitment and service you recieve from banking managers vary's from branch to branch. Some managers go further to help micro businesses, some cant be bothered with them and are only interested in dealing with businesses with million plus turnovers. Iv changed banks a couple of times in the last 10 years and had a few different business managers too. No two were the same and only one stuck their neck out to help me when i needed funding for expansion. But that was before the credit collapse.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gardens4u.co.uk on July 21, 2012 at 18:43

most people get paid into a personal account for their wages ,  its the same for a sole trader.   its your wages/ income ..  no difference .  thats the benefit of being a 'sole' trader'  its a legal term gary.

i studied business Law.

Gary RK said:

I can only relate what I was told originally about business use of personal bank accounts and how viewed by HMRC.

Irrespective of that issue, it's clear that most/all Banks prohibit such use.

As said, whether they find out and how they may back charge you would ensure that, for me, I would go down the separate busines account route.

It would seem good business practice?

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Permalink Reply by John on July 21, 2012 at 18:54

The "Bank on Dave " bank seems pretty good to me.

 http://www.channel4.com/programmes/bank-of-dave

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gary RK on July 21, 2012 at 19:06

Ouch - a bit full on Rob - have I upset you ;-) ??

I was only providing 'best practice' and my views having done business studies, owned a couple of sole trader business and now operate a ltd company.....touche

Everyone can make their own decision....

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/rec-keep-self-emp.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/oct/13/finance

http://businessplusbaby.com/2011/06/13/do-i-need-a-business-bank-ac...

http://www.freeindex.co.uk/business-advice/benefits-of-using-a-busi...

http://www.startupdonut.co.uk/blog/2011/01/basic-introduction-bookk...

p.s it is actually 'unlawful' in the sense that you break the T&C's of your personal account with the Bank and therefore can leave you liable for charges or having your account closed...which doesn't look good to your clients and subsequent credit searches...

eg LloydsTSB :

2.6 This agreement only covers banking services we provide for your personal use. We have different agreements if you are a customer for the purposes of a business, club, charity or other organisation, or if you are acting as a trustee, personal representative, partner or sole trader. This agreement does not affect or change the terms (express or implied) of those agreements.
Gardens4u.co.uk said:

most people get paid into a personal account for their wages ,  its the same for a sole trader.   its your wages/ income ..  no difference .  thats the benefit of being a 'sole' trader'  its a legal term gary.

i studied business Law.

Gary RK said:

I can only relate what I was told originally about business use of personal bank accounts and how viewed by HMRC.

Irrespective of that issue, it's clear that most/all Banks prohibit such use.

As said, whether they find out and how they may back charge you would ensure that, for me, I would go down the separate busines account route.

It would seem good business practice?

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Permalink Reply by Keith Barker on July 21, 2012 at 22:59

Gary, how was your swap to the FSB Co-op account? We're moving accounts in the next couple of weeks, and I liked the look of that account.

Gary RK said:

Well, I can no longer recommend Barclays as a business bank.

 

Since the start of the year we have had no end of problems with their business banking centre in Leicester - overdraft problems (even though we don't use it !), trying to close our accounts, working captial loan problems, etc

 

And the piece de la resistance, is that we had a loan refused because, according to them, we have a 'dormant account' with no no money coming into to it - so we are a bad risk !

 

I did point out that the 'dormant account' was not our Ltd company trading account, but a linked Business Reserve Savings Account.

 

The response ?, oh our computer system doesn't recognise the difference. It just assumes you are not trading well as there is no money going into the account!!!!!!!!!

 

The Local Business Manager seems helpless to deal with or over-rule HQ. his response was to reapply by comming into the branch with last 3 years trading acounts. Oh joy another day to be wasted !

 

So, we are mid-swap to the FSB's Co-Op business banking - totally FOC.

 

ps in fact we got our loan for a new vehicle via the leasing company at a rate almost similar to that of Barclays with ONE phone call because we had used them before .

 

Bankers, more like Merchants...:-)

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gary RK on July 26, 2012 at 14:24

Keith, so far impressed with co-op business account via fsb. We deposit cheques etc via post and have used a nominated post office. Have not yet needed or applied for any loans etc so time will see.

As a footnote, I wonder how the service will change/improve with the impending purchase of LTSB branches...

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gary RK on July 26, 2012 at 14:44

So Rob, what do the t&c's of your personal account say regarding using it for business...?

Gary RK said:

Ouch - a bit full on Rob - have I upset you ;-) ??

I was only providing 'best practice' and my views having done business studies, owned a couple of sole trader business and now operate a ltd company.....touche

Everyone can make their own decision....

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/rec-keep-self-emp.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/oct/13/finance

http://businessplusbaby.com/2011/06/13/do-i-need-a-business-bank-ac...

http://www.freeindex.co.uk/business-advice/benefits-of-using-a-busi...

http://www.startupdonut.co.uk/blog/2011/01/basic-introduction-bookk...

p.s it is actually 'unlawful' in the sense that you break the T&C's of your personal account with the Bank and therefore can leave you liable for charges or having your account closed...which doesn't look good to your clients and subsequent credit searches...

eg LloydsTSB :

2.6 This agreement only covers banking services we provide for your personal use. We have different agreements if you are a customer for the purposes of a business, club, charity or other organisation, or if you are acting as a trustee, personal representative, partner or sole trader. This agreement does not affect or change the terms (express or implied) of those agreements.
Gardens4u.co.uk said:

most people get paid into a personal account for their wages ,  its the same for a sole trader.   its your wages/ income ..  no difference .  thats the benefit of being a 'sole' trader'  its a legal term gary.

i studied business Law.

Gary RK said:

I can only relate what I was told originally about business use of personal bank accounts and how viewed by HMRC.

Irrespective of that issue, it's clear that most/all Banks prohibit such use.

As said, whether they find out and how they may back charge you would ensure that, for me, I would go down the separate busines account route.

It would seem good business practice?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Fenlandphil on July 29, 2012 at 19:54

I have managed to negotiate a 25% reduction in my bank charges not the 100% I was hoping for but a small step in the right direction.

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